Ah, back for another chapter. :D This one should be fun.
dragonFELL: Ahhhh! A typo! :O And it seems that when I TRY to make a parody, they end up like...idiotic...but if I don't, it's way too funny to be serious. XP It's like my writing is trying to work against me. DX I blame my characters. They're too awesome.
WarriorCat99: Thank you! :D It always makes me happy to see a new name on the review list.
Story Recommendation:
The Marked Series by Moving to Mars
Life was different with his father in charge of IceClan. If he was really in charge; it seemed that Strikeheart, who Couragestar had named deputy the day before, was making all of the decisions. Which was probably for the better of the clan; it wouldn't do to have a mentally insane cat in charge of the strongest fighting force in the forest.
A lot of cats had taken to supporting Strikeheart. It was understandable...Nightpaw even sort of supported him.
But Courage's yer dad. Haven't ya got any sort o' blood loyalty?
Eh...no.
Shame, Nighty. Shame.
Why? My only living blood relative is mentally insane and took over the clan. Should I be supporting him? Don't answer that.
Surprisingly, Daypaw didn't answer. Was he finally going away? Of course...considering Nightpaw was the one with a voice in his head, he shouldn't blame Daypaw-
Whack!
Nightpaw stumbled sideways, narrowing his eyes to try and keep from crying out. He'd thought that nobody would bother him out here, being basically almost over the MoonClan border. And now he was, seeing as he'd skidded sideways a few pawsteps. He stood there, almost in the stream, trying to make sense of what had happened.
Talonstrike was standing in front of him, smirk on his reddish-furred face. Hawkslayer and Jaggedfang slipped out from behind a tree.
Wow, they prolly rehearsed it!
I've got enough problems to deal with at the moment.
"What?" Nightpaw meowed, keeping his tone even. Talonstrike smirked again.
"Aw, the dictator's son doesn't know what's going on?" Hawkslayer meowed, almost as if she was talking to a kit. Her long, dark brown tail brushed the ground softly.
"Dictator's son? What, you think that I associate with – or even like – Couragestar?" Nightpaw snapped, resisting the urge to step back. Not only would he be taking the same route as Quietpaw had – except maybe surviving – but he'd definitely be over the border then. And, from the scent of it, a patrol of MoonClan cats were coming! Oh, how lovely.
Sarcasm's the lowest form o' humor.
Shut up. You're sarcastic all the time!
Everything outta this mouth's true! Most o' the time.
"Still, we need to vent out our frustrations. And you're still related to him by blood...I mean, it's not like we can go up and kill Courageflame, right?" Hawkslayer countered, taking another step forward.
"Couragestar," Nightpaw automatically corrected. That probably wasn't the right thing to say, because Talonstrike's paw came swooping down at his head again. Nightpaw ducked, the paw whooshing above his head.
"Fast," Talonstrike meowed thoughtfully. "Why don't you get back on this side of the border?"
"No thanks," Nightpaw meowed, voice unconsciously going up an octave. The smirk reappeared on Talonstrike's face. Foxdung. And there's not even Daypaw. Somehow, he distracts me. It's not fun thinking about what's currently happening, especially if what's currently happening is three of the youngest, most hot-headed warriors – and considering IceClan, that's saying something – are cornering me, on the border of MoonClan, or slightly over, depending on how you look at it, because they're mad at my dad for throwing out the cat they shared their apprentice-ship with out of the leader's den. And that's probably not even a bad thing. At least Couragestar has more experience...and Strikeheart certainly does, because he was being groomed for the next deputy, anyway.
"Lost in thought?" Talonstrike meowed almost conversationally, moving forward. Nightpaw took a step backwards, paw splashing in the shallow, slow-moving water.
"Intruuuuuuuder!" A sing-song-y voice called.
"Forgot about the patrol," Nightpaw muttered, withdrawing his paw immediately. "Besides, I'm already across the border." Nevertheless, he withdrew his paw, shaking it dry.
"So, you're coming with us! Fantastic!" Talonstrike purred, an emotion Nightpaw couldn't place glinting in his green eyes.
"No, no..."
"So you'll be an intruder!" the voice chirped. She – or at least, Nightpaw assumed it was a she – still hadn't shown herself, but he figured it was only a few minutes until she would.
"Uh...actually, I think I might take that option," Nightpaw meowed, spinning around and jumping into the river and beginning to spring with the current, cursing as he almost twisted his paw. I hate water, he thought, narrowing his eyes as he heard Talonstrike and his gang give chase. They were still in IceClan territory, and now he heard the MoonClan patrol giving chase as well, heavy paws thumping against the ground.
He chanced a glance at the MoonClan cats chasing him. It was a tom...the biggest tom he'd ever seen, actually. A gigantic, jet black tom with bright green eyes. It was kind of unnerving, considering the voice that he'd heard had been distinctly high-pitched. Almost more high-pitched than Lilacpaw's.
"Foxdung," Nightpaw meowed, speeding up. He was a pretty fast cat, and he was with the current, so he should be able to get away, right?
Nope!
With a growl, the large black tom launched himself into the air, squarely landing on Nightpaw's shoulders and forcing him to face-plant into the river. His head surfaced immediately, sputtering and coughing. "Take your apprentice back," the tom growled; thankfully, his voice wasn't the high-pitched one.
The squeaky one giggled, and a black tortoiseshell bounced out from behind a rock. "Aw, but he's cute! Can't we keep him!"
"Please," Nightpaw muttered. Her ears pricked up.
"Really? Your clan won't mind?"
"Probably not. Half of them can't even remember my name," Nightpaw replied.
The she-cat's face adopted a serious look. "In MoonClan, you're not just a number. You're...er...you look like you'd be a Shadowpaw! In MoonClan, you're not just a number. You're Shadowpaw."
Nightpaw sighed. "Great." It follows me everywhere.
"We'll take him," Hawkslayer butted in. "We're...training."
"Didn't look like you were training," the large tom grunted, but he stepped off of Nightpaw, anyway. Nightpaw took in a huge gulp of air as soon as the immense weight was lifted off of his shoulders. "But, here you go."
"Perfect," Talonstrike meowed, grinning.
"So, you're going to go look for that she-cat." Shadestorm looked at him, a confused look on his dark gray fur.
Courageflame nodded, flexing his claws. "She...I mean, she...intrigues me."
"She was kind of hot," Shadestorm admitted. "But, I've got Jasmineleaf. Why don't you take..." He thought for a minute. "Violetpetal? She's pretty."
"No, I'm going to find her. See you later!" With that, Courageflame jumped to his paws and waved his tail in good-bye.
"Wait, you're not leaving me, are you?" Shadestorm meowed, leaping to his paws. "I'll come with you!"
"Shadestorm, we're warriors now...We can't still stick together all the time..." Courageflame trailed off. Even though they were warriors, it had been the first time separated for a while. Sure,a couple of times when they were apprentices, but... "You could...talk to Jasmineleaf?" he suggested weakly. "Or talk to Icepaw, ever since Bramblepaw died he's branched out more."
Shadestorm sighed, eyes downcast. "Yeah, I'll go talk to Icepaw, I guess. Jasmineleaf's busy. She's on the sunhigh patrol, remember?"
"Shade, I don't stalk your mate. That's creepy," Courageflame meowed, an easy smile on his face. Shadestorm laughed and padded away, back towards camp. As soon as his littermate was out of sight, a steely determination appeared in Courageflame's eyes. "I've got to find her."
Nightpaw was deposited in the elder's den back at camp. Immediately, he jumped to his paws, shaking the dust, mud, and water out of his pelt. After a couple of seconds, he decided to just groom it out. "Enough of that!" Hawkslayer snapped. Nightpaw jumped.
"Okay..." he meowed, keeping the quaver out of his voice. They couldn't do anything too bad to him...they were in the elder's den, for StarClan's sake! While the elders were on their mid-day walk, of course.
Flakestorm and Shellblossom entered the den. "You've got him!" Flakestorm meowed brightly. "Now we can start!"
Start what? Nightpaw wondered. This day was turning out to be abnormally weird; first he's kitnapped by three of his clanmates, then Daypaw disappears.
Lightpaw entered the den, her mouth full of moss. "What's going on here?" she meowed, voice muffled. "Nightpaw, are you okay?"
"You know my name!" Nightpaw cheered. Lightpaw gave a weak smile.
"Y-yeah..." she meowed. "Come on, let's get out of here."
"Oh, StarClan, thank you," Nightpaw breathed, following her out of the den. Thank StarClan she was the medicine cat apprentice. Thank StarClan she was going to change the elder's bedding.
Thank StarClan for Lightpaw.
Flashback time! Woohoo! I love flashbacks. :) We'll see more of them, and there will be more 'what's going on in IceClan! - Couragestar style!'
